Day 16: David had a great day today! He was graduated from the Nicu down to the TPN (Transitional Pediatric Neonatal) unit this afternoon!! Hes still on 24hour monitoring & has the same care team, but its a smaller unit (only 9 babies) so its quieter & more soothing. Still no visitors, but now that hes off the vent & IV & catheter and is only on monitor leads, he can be disconnected and carried over to the viewing window so people can see him. I had the meeting with the feed team & it was determined that I can try breastfeeding as often as I like, but he is not exhibiting intentional sucking (the small amount he does do is mostly reflexive at this point) and showed no interest at all in the bottle or actually breastfeeding. We are going to follow up next week & in the meantime, work with him using the pacifier to improve his sucking & strengthen his jaw muscles. If he doesnt show improvement in his ability to take oral nutrition, well discuss alternative feeding methods moving forward. Hes continuing to build strength in his neck, arms & legs & we discussed consulting with physical therapy to learn some exercises I can start doing with him to improve strength & dexterity. He also had an xray this morning & orthopedics has decided not to operate. The break isnt lined up perfectly, but is healing well & continuing to correct itself. The risks of putting him under general anesthetic and operating outweigh any foreseeable complications with allowing his arm to heal as is. Other than that, hes remaining stable. Thank you everyone for your continued love & support!!
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 23:59:30 +0000